If you’ve always wanted to experience what it was like to be part of the first manned trip to a stellar body beyond our own, then the Apollo 11 virtual reality experience is going to be right up your alley. You’ll need some VR hardware to run it, of course, but fortunately the developers are being agnostic about platform support, so whether you end up with an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or PlayStationVR, you should be able to have a go.
The Kickstarter-funded game will be ready for the launch of all of them, we’re told in the latest update. There will also be a new DK2-compatible version for those that are utilizing the older Oculus developer headset.
The only consumer-focused headset that the Apollo 11 experience won’t be appearing on any time soon is Samsung’s Gear VR. Although the developers at Immersive Education want to get the experience on as many platforms as possible, without knowing exactly what the final build of the game will be like, they don’t want to commit to mobile just yet — in case it can’t handle it.
To make sure there is something for everyone though, it’s going to also release a part of the experience as a 360-degree video.
Other updates for the experience addressed some of the progressions being made with lighting and animation, as well as the use of the Oculus remote, which will come included with all commercial Rift CV1 bundles. It allows for a more intuitive interface for non-gamers, claimed developer DrashVR, who you may know from its Titans of Space creation.
This means that those wanting to try out the Apollo 11 experience will be able to feel comfortable with the control scheme, rather than feeling like they have to learn a gamepad’s layout beforehand.
Like many of the other projects it is helping develop and promote, Immersive Education’s Apollo 11 experience is designed as an educational tool. The studio believes in inspiring through education and thinks virtual reality will be a great medium for that. Letting children of today follow in the virtual footsteps of their forebears could inspire them to take the next step in space exploration themselves.
